In this July 6, 2018 file photo, a prospective customer confers with sales associate as a Tesla Model 3 sits on display in a showroom in the Cherry Creek Mall in Denver. On Thursday, Feb. 28, Tesla announced a $35,000 Model 3, the lowest price of any Tesla car. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

A federal tax credit will apply only to what you owe in taxes. Despite tax code changes, it is still there but the amount varies by taxes owed and income. A state rebate is available of $2,500; low-income customers can get up to $4,500. Southern California Edison customer? You can get $1,000 for buying an EV.

“This is a really good step for Tesla and the customers who were waiting for this price point,” said Mark Duvall, director of energy utilization for the Electric Power Research Institute in Palo Alto. “It was probably the news story of the month.”

Duvall said the lower the price, the more people willing to buy. Tesla sold record numbers of cars at the end of last year as prices dropped slightly. Duvall wasn’t making predictions for spring and summer for the base price car. “Now Tesla has the dominant market share in the United States” for EVs,” he said. “We will have to see what happens next.”

For those not excited about this news, think about this. Electric car sales rose 81 percent from 2017-2018 in the U.S. More carmakers are jumping on the bandwagon, including Audi, Porsche and Mercedes. Ford is developing an SUV EV.

Tesla’s lower-end competitor is the Chevrolet Bolt, an all-electric five-seat hatchback with a 238-mile range and a list price starting at $35,000. Duvall said Chevy is offering deals on its long-range EV. (although the car is absent from its television advertising).

Jeff U’Ren, 64, a Chevy Bolt owner from Santa Monica, now says he will consider buying a Tesla next year when his lease is up. It’s not that he’s dissatisfied with his Bolt, it’s that Tesla offers advanced technology, sleek designs and, now, a more affordable price.

“It is something I am going to look at for my next vehicle, yes,” U’Ren said on Friday between shots during his job as a freelance TV editor.

EV owners know all about the benefits. There are virtually zero maintenance costs. And Duvall estimates charging an EV all night long (reaching 238 miles on the Bolt) using a power utility’s flexible nighttime rates is the same as paying about $1 per gallon of gasoline.

“Taking the total cost of operating a Model 3 versus a gasoline-powered vehicle and the Model 3 look really good,” Duvall said. He also said buying a $35,000 EV is tantamount to buying a $25,000 gasoline car over the lifetime of the cars. “There is a significant amount of operating costs for an electric vehicle you can cut out.”

I have to decide what car to get once my lease is up on my 2017 Chevy Volt, which gets about 60 miles per charge but has a small, gasoline engine that boosts the combined range to around 400 miles.

Since my Dad was a Chevy guy, I was leaning toward the all-battery Bolt. But like U’Ren, the Tesla has just now entered my field of vision.

The larger question? Can Tesla be profitable selling lower-priced cars? Even as it closes many of its storefronts and goes to online ordering only, will that be enough to keep it profitable?

“It is still a marathon (to get to non-polluting, all-electric transportation). But we know we are going to finish,” Duvall said.

It’s not if, but when.

Steve Scauzillo covers transportation, public health and environment for the Southern California News Group. He’s a recipient of the Aldo Leopold Award for Distinguished Editorial Writing from The Wilderness Society. Follow him on Twitter or Instagram @stevscaz or email him at sscauzillo@scng.com.

Steve Scauzillo covers environment, public health and transportation for the Southern California News Group. He has won two journalist of the year awards from the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club and is a recipient of the Aldo Leopold Award for Distinguished Editorial Writing on environmental issues. Steve studied biology/chemistry when attending East Meadow High School and Nassau College in New York (he actually loved botany!) and then majored in social ecology at UCI until switching to journalism. He also earned a master's degree in media from Cal State Fullerton. He has been an adjunct professor since 2005. Steve likes to take the train, subway and bicycle – sometimes all three – to assignments and the newsroom. He has two grown sons, Andy and Matthew. Steve recently watched all of “Star Trek” the remastered original season one on Amazon, so he has an inner nerd.

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